Taking 10 With Survival

[Water Bob]

If you make a DC 10 Survival check, once per 24 hours, and move at half speed during that day, you can feed and water yourself off the land. For every 2 points you roll over that DC, you can feed and water another person that day.

If you make a DC 15 Survival check, you will not get lost in the wilderness.

If you've got 5 ranks in Survival, you can always tell where true north is.




Would you allow a PC to Take 10 on these types of rolls?

Mechanically, it seems to be a legal move.

But, my gut says that sometimes, no matter how good a person is at Survival, he may not find food and water (which is automatic when Taking 10 vs. a DC 10).

Sometimes he should get lost, but anybody with a few Survival points and a decent WIS will never get lost even though he has less than 5 ranks in Survival.



So...what do you think? Allow Take 10 or not?

 

[Sekhmet]

With one interpretation of "taking ten", you could consider travel in the wilderness to be a constant threat - no "take 10's" could occur.
You could also just say there is no usable food or water.

Per RAW, I'd let them have it.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

depends on how gritty a game I was running. If finding food in the wilderness was just a minor point to the larger campaign and not a detail we'd want to fuss to much about, then sure. If the goal was wilderness survival, doing everything you can to get by, lethality of living is taken into a higher consideration, than no.

I've played some games where everyone just assumes you eat and pee sometime, no attention is given to it. Wizards don't gather spell components, making camp is as simple as saying "We're making camp", and the focus is the action.

I've played other games where skill usage is given a higher place, roleplaying moment by moment actions is the point and more attention is given to details. This is usually with more veteran players. in this atmosphere I'd want players to contend with the consequence of not being able to have found food that evening, and them having to figure out what to do about it.

When I have a large chunk of time to play, I like the latter. When life gets busy and I can only get together with friends on occasion, I prefer the former. I've enjoyed both styles.

 

[Water Bob]

The problem I have with this, is this...

It's a DC 10 Survival check to move at half speed but feed and water youself from the environment.

If you Take 10 on this, ANY type of character will succeed as long as he doesn't have a penalty WIS (WIS 9 or less). You don't even need points in Survival.

But, by RAW, Taking 10 seems perfectly legal.

Logic states that the character should have at least 1 rank in Survival, maybe more, in order to find food and water 100% of the time.

 

[Jacob Marley]

Your concerns are addressed in the 3.5 Player's Handbook: Favorable and Unfavorable Conditions (page 64). Oddly enough, the first example given is Krusk the Barbarian and using Survival to find food.

 

[billd91]

The problem I have with this, is this...

It's a DC 10 Survival check to move at half speed but feed and water youself from the environment.

If you Take 10 on this, ANY type of character will succeed as long as he doesn't have a penalty WIS (WIS 9 or less). You don't even need points in Survival.

But, by RAW, Taking 10 seems perfectly legal.

Logic states that the character should have at least 1 rank in Survival, maybe more, in order to find food and water 100% of the time.

Don't forget the DM's best friend - the circumstance modifier. If you deem the place particularly difficult, raise the DC. If they take 10 and fail, guess they'll know to roll.

I don't mind players taking 10. That makes routine stuff routine and saves some trouble.

 

[Water Bob]

I usually don't mind players Taking 10, either. It makes the game go smoother.

But, the modifiers aren't the answer here. The DC 10 is meant as the standard Survival check to find food and water. You'd use the modifiers when the GM thinks it is needed for whatever reason.

The PCs are in a trackless desert. OK, the DC isn't DC 10 anymore.

But, in most places, where water and food can be found, the DC 10 is the standard suggested check.



But then, we've got the problem I state above with the WIS 10 pampered princess, who's never spent a day outside of the city, can Take 10 on a hunting trip and feed and water herself when spending the week out in the King's forest.

 

[Jacob Marley]

I usually don't mind players Taking 10, either. It makes the game go smoother.

But, the modifiers aren't the answer here. The DC 10 is meant as the standard Survival check to find food and water. You'd use the modifiers when the GM thinks it is needed for whatever reason.

The PCs are in a trackless desert. OK, the DC isn't DC 10 anymore.

But, in most places, where water and food can be found, the DC 10 is the standard suggested check.

But then, we've got the problem I state above with the WIS 10 pampered princess, who's never spent a day outside of the city, can Take 10 on a hunting trip and feed and water herself when spending the week out in the King's forest.

You answered this question above when you stated: "when the GM thinks it is needed for whatever reason."

To me, this is a perfect example where the skill user should recieve a -2 circumstance penalty to represent conditions that hamper performance. The conditions that the princess finds herself in are most certainly out of her element and deserving of the penalty.

 

[Wik]

Gah. I live in an area where there is a HUGE amount of plant life, berries, and edible plants. I am in an area where there is an abundance of sea life (some of the largest concentrations in the world, in fact). Wildlife can be found everywhere, and if you know where to look, you can easily feed yourself.

And I would say that finding food is a bit more complicated than a DC 10 check. Untrained? Good luck.

This is a case where the rules are just plain wrong.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

ValerSterling
has no status.

Registered User

Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 6
Novice (Lvl 1)

Reported